December 6, 2013. Na PD (38) was in Singapore for the ASIA Television Forum, and he did an interview with Razor TV. The video clip is subbed in English, but some parts or nuances of what Na PD said weren’t included, so here’s the English translation. It’s really mind-boggling to think how much younger Seunggi is than all the people he works with! I think everyone forgets since he’s such such a professional about things and people always entrust him with a lot of responsibility.

NaPD: I guess my face has become more recognizable through [being on screen]. But as I said, the kind of reality shows I do, I wanted to show everything. And it started with not wanting to hide anything from the viewers. So while filming, if there are any problems or demands that arise, we’ll go directly to them and listen or refuse what they’re saying. This felt more real and was more like a true reality show. And through that, unexpectedly… people typically don’t know the producer’s face since they’re behind the camera, so there is an aspect of my face becoming known, but that wasn’t the intent. The goal was to show the true reality of the situations.

[With him, 1 Night 2 Days had 30% ratings from 2007-2012, making it one of the most successful prime-time variety shows. Producer Na left the show last year, but when he was on it, he was often the bad guy who made his cast members like Kang Hodong and singer-actor Lee Seunggi play games to see who would get to eat and sleep better than the rest.]

Q: When you give a popular star like Lee Seunggi a hard time, don’t you worry about his fans’ reaction?

NaPD: [@2:00~ Spoken in English] You mean, are Lee Seunggi’s fans going to attack me?! Hahaha. Are they angry at me?! Hahaha. Maybe some of them, but very small portion. Because in Korea, everyone knows the relationship between Lee Seunggi and me. We worked together for a very long time on 1 Night 2 Days, about 5 or 6 years. Actually, we’re almost friends. (Na PD is 11 years older than Seunggi). So Seunggi’s fans, everyone, knows about that relationship. Of course, sometimes I give him a hard time, but they understand it. Hahaha. So that’s okay! (hmm, Na PD obviously has no clue how Airens sometimes feel about his evil behavior!)

Q: You could have cast K-pop idols, what made you decide to cast these grandpas instead?

NaPD: Just like you, I’m sure there were people all over Korea who were probably thinking the same thing. Since K-pop stars and idols are popular abroad and in Korea, so people assume there’s a higher chance of having a hit if you do something with them. However, following that train of thought can be dangerous since it’s become so engrained, and people can now find that boring with predictable outcomes. Although they are the ones who are popular, rather than stars who are always in the limelight, I came up with celebrity old men while thinking about something refreshing people would trust and want to watch.